Bioactive Components of Human Milk: Similarities and Differences between Human Milk and Infant Formula

Abstract

Nowadays, there is an increasing awareness regarding the relationship between food, nutrition, and health. It is obvious that this relation starts from the birth. In the early stage of life, breastfeeding is considered the preferred choice for infant feeding and human milk is the optimal food for an infant to keep its nutritional and health status. Because it contains a large group of bioactive compounds such as proteins, vitamins, nucleotides, oligosaccharides, immunoglobulins, and some of the bioavailable minerals beyond its content of the essential nutrients, human milk is classified as the first functional food in the infant life. The various bioactive components of human milk play a pivotal role in preventing the gastrointestinal and respiratory infections, anemia, and bone-related problems as well as it enhances the immune function and helps in the maturation of the digestive system. The exclusive breastfeeding pattern during the first 6 months of infant life and introducing complementary foods after this period have a potential role in protecting against certain diseases in the adult stage of life. This chapter is underlying the great potential of breastfeeding for mothers and babies. Moreover, it discusses the functionality of some components of human milk and its similarities and differences between human milk and infant formulas.

Breast Milk, a Source of Beneficial Microbes and Associated Benefits for Infant Health

“…It displays antimicrobial and anti-infectious activity, with many clinical trials reporting its preventative role in neonatal sepsis, diarrhea, and necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants. High levels of lactoferrin are reported in colostrum 7 ng/L, with a gradual decline to 2-4g/L in mature milk [133][134][135][136][137]. Human milk contains an array of specialised growth factors such as epidermal growth factor, which aids healing of intestinal mucosa, insulin-like growth factors (IGF) 1 and 2 which increase tissue growth, and neuronal growth factors which help peristalsis; these are just some of the growth factors present in human milk that enhance infant development [138][139][140][141].…”

The Human Milk Oligosaccharides 3‐FL, Lacto‐N‐Neotetraose, and LDFT Attenuate Tumor Necrosis Factor‐α Induced Inflammation in Fetal Intestinal Epithelial Cells In Vitro through Shedding or Interacting with Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 1

“…[ 2 ] For a variety of reasons, over 70% of the infants cannot be exclusively breastfed and have to be fed with cow‐milk based infant formula, [ 3 ] which mimics the nutritional composition of breast milk. [ 4,5 ] However, these infant formulas do not contain the same bioactive molecules as human milk, [ 6 ] as a consequence, formula‐fed babies have a higher risk for infections and inflammatory diseases than babies solely fed with infant formula. [ 7 ] One of the most important bioactive components of mother milk are human milk oligosaccharides (hMOs), which are unique to humans and are not found in the same variety and composition in other mammals.…”

Effects of Different Human Milk Oligosaccharides on Growth of Bifidobacteria in Monoculture and Co-culture With Faecalibacterium prausnitzii

“…However, for a variety of reasons, there are still over 70% of the infants that cannot be exclusively breastfed (Walker, 2010;Heymann et al, 2013). These non-breastfed infants are most often fed with cow-derived infant formula (Coulet et al, 2014;Aly et al, 2018). Up to now, these cowmilk derived infant formula lack human milk oligosaccharides (hMOs), which are one of the most important bioactive components of mother's milk.…”